It's taking a while for Congress and the President to work out their differences over the war funding bill. This wait isn't harming the troops, but it is costing people money. That's because there's a minimum wage raise attached to the war funding bill. It raises it from $5.15 to $5.85 60 days after enactment, and then to $6.15 a year after enactment, and $7.25 after two years.

If you've got 45 minutes, take a look at this article in the New York Review of Books. It's an analysis of how doctor's think, and how bad habits of mind promote inefficiency and bad outcomes in the health care system.

Doing a bit of research into mandatory spending, I came across this GAO document, which contains this bit: Among mandatory spending programs...the health area is especially important because the long-term fiscal challenge is largely a health care challenge. Contrary to public perceptions, health care is the biggest driver of the long-term fiscal challenge. This cannot be said enough: health care is the biggest driver of the long-term fiscal challenge.

Responding to the new CAP anti-poverty plan, the folks at Inclusionist.org have started up an interesting debate on how to talk about, think about, and address poverty. This post should get you caught up. Call me a kool-aid drinker, but I'm taken in by the Inclusionist people. I like the way they think, perhaps more so than the way they name things. I mean, the term "inclusion" just sounds too social, when we're really talking about pocketbook, security, and opportunity issues. Their work's cut out for them on that front, if they ever want the term and their definition of it to become mainstream.